By Alani Janeke
A group of ten three-in-one cows with calves achieved the best price during the Maritz Bovelders and Boshoek Bovelders’ auction held on February 13 at Jaco Maritz’s farm Eksteen in the Memel district.
Paul van Niekerk and Charl Theron of Boshoek Bovelders, owners of the cows, say the group, which was offered as lot three during the auction, fetched a price of R42 000 and was purchased by Kojo Boerdery from Amersfoort.
The second highest price achieved at the auction was for lot 22, a group of three-in-one cows with calves from Maritz Bovelders, which was auctioned for R37 000. The buyers of lot 22 were Ciltine (Pty.) Ltd. from Kinross. A total of 690 female cattle were offered for sale, of which 235 were three-in-one cows, 100 pregnant heifers, and 120 open heifers.
The average price achieved for three-in-one cows was R25 950, while the average price for cows with calves was R18 500. The average price for pregnant heifers was R18 410, while the average for open heifers was R12 600. Two hundred eighty commercial South African Meat Merino (SAMM) sheep from Maritz’s Mashiesa SAMM stud were also on sale. These included 100 pregnant ewes, all with singles and due to lamb in March, 50 ewes carrying twins and set to lamb in March, and 100 pregnant ewes due to lamb in May. Thirty rams were presented at the auction.
The average price achieved for the rams was R6 200, and for the twin-bearing ewes, R2 950. The single-bearing ewes achieved an average price of R2 550, while the open ewes’ average price was R2 100. Van Niekerk says they are delighted with the prices achieved at the auction. “We mostly got a bit more than the reserve prices for the animals. We are satisfied with the prices under the circumstances. Farmers are under pressure due to the economy and meat prices, and the fact that it’s not raining well has also played a role. Maritz agrees and says the prices obtained for the sheep at the auction were fair.
